This blog is intended to go along with Population: An Introduction to Concepts and Issues, by John R. Weeks, published by Cengage Learning. The latest edition is the 12th (it came out in 2015), but this blog is meant to complement any edition of the book by showing the way in which demographic issues are regularly in the news.

If you are a user of my textbook and would like to suggest a blog post idea, please email me at: john.weeks@sdsu.edu

Monday, June 16, 2014

Saying Goodbye to Tony Gwynn

Baseball fans everywhere, but especially here in San Diego, are mourning the death today of Hall of Fame player Tony Gwynn. He was only 54. He starred in both basketball and baseball here at San Diego State University before being drafted by the San Diego Padres and playing his entire career here in San Diego for the Padres. He was without question the greatest hitter of the last half century. He was also a truly good human being, as my son, Greg Weeks, remembers today in his blog. After finishing up his big-league career, he came back here to SDSU to coach the baseball team, in a facility named for him. He was unable to make it through the entire season this year, however, because of the devastating effects of the cancer in his salivary glands. The national report today on NPR notes that Tony himself was convinced that the cancer arose from 30 years of using chewing tobacco. This is just one more tragic reminder of why tobacco is at the top of the list in this country (and many others) in terms of the "real" causes of death.

About Me

Weeks Population Companion App

The app provides learning objectives and main points for each chapter, along with a quick POPquiz to test knowledge about key population information, and there is also a link to the WeeksPopulation blog.